Tuesday, 29 April 2008

You don't have to be crazy to be a Pirate, but it fucking helpsSometimes we make choices that aren't exactly healthy, engaging outnumbered is one of them but one that can reward like no other if succesful. Winning against the odds is still a thrill no matter how many times it happens and if you lose, well, it's one of those things.

It's not often I am confident enough to go in outnumbered anymore, there's just so many factors to consider:Are there more waiting in another system to jump in and turn the tide?Are they carrying EWAR?Are the cloaked ships in system with them?Will other Pirates jack me mid fight?

These along with other factors make the decision making tricky but sometimes you just have to say "Fuckit, let's roll"

I had been in Eifer for a bit in my Rupture, tweaking the new build, had already caught a lone Tristan pilot in a belt when a Typhoon was reported by my freind Jubes, him along with Prediction Pain were going to engage but as we were ready he warped to a gate to high security space. Jubes was still keen to engage as was I if he returned to the belts but I got distracted by a pair of cruisers that had entered system. I had narrowed them down to a belt and warped in, only to see them leave, the trails of hyperspace all that was left. I asked in the system comms channel if they would be interested in a 1 v 2 but they were hesistant that it would end up being a 20 v 2. Now, I am a man of honour, even though I am a Pirate and make my living off the misfortune of others. Honour is everything to a Pirate and moreso to me. My name and reputation mean everything and I would certainly not throw it away in such a cheap and underhanded manner.

I started to track my prey, warping to a planet near to the last reported sighting, setting my onboard scanner into a narrow arc, I zeroed in on their position. Patience, they had been in the belt for a bit and would soon warp out, the Thorax and Stabber class cruisers more than enough to deal with the local Angel Cartel. Sure enough the left and I once again narrowed them down, I activated my warp drive and headed on in, now or never, the Typhoon was going to have to wait.Normal space enveloped my ship as I burst ut of warp and my systems resolved to show I had landed right on top of the two, "Excellent" I thought to myself and I activated my lock on both targets. Thorax was primary, the Gallente cruiser able to deal massive damage at this range and needed to go first. Locks resolved and warp disruptor and stasis web set on the primary, guns activated along with some energy warfare mods. I launched a flight of light ECM drones and set them on the Stabber and went to work. My shields failed and my armor started taking damage but the Thorax was going down, Shields gone in an instant, his armour taking some time, certainly fitted with a 1600mm armour plate and then he was into his structure. Finally he exploded and I shifted the tackling gear onto the Stabber who had stayed in close. Guns spun up and spat out Barrage rounds at a furious rate, my ECM drones finally getting a cycle, I was at half armour but the fight was over, the Stabber exploding in a brilliant flash.

Pleasantries were exchanged in local, a genuinely good fight.One of the pilots left the system saying this:Marrl Shadowfall > owned

I scooped the loot and returned to my safespot above the central belt, I was at half armour with no repair systems fitted. Jubes reported he was engaging the Typhoon below me and needed help, I naturally warped straight in. The drones of the Typhoon were causing massive damage to Jubes even though Prediction had the massive battleship jammed. I launched my ECM drones and set them on him, any bit would help. Jubes Hurricane was taking a pounding and I was sitting 16 clicks off firing round after round of Barrage into the Typhoons armour, it was failing and soon it would pop. A great kill and props to Jubes, the man is an awesome combat pilot, one of the best I have ever encountered and I have massive respect for him.His favourite past time is killing nano HACs using his Hurricane which he does with alarming success.

The rest of the day didn't turn up much of note, a single Thrasher and then a Rifter and Slasher that had escaped me due to warp core stabilisers but were caught by a friend with a Stealth Bomber and I somehow made it onto the killmails.

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting

My night was completed when I spotted two plex runners in the Angel Complex, I know that one is in a Manticore and the other appeared to be in a Rifter. My primary target would be the Manticore who was no doubt cloaked inside. I warped in and took the bait Rifter on, waiting for the Manti to engage. The Rifter was fast and he easily kept range on me, making it difficult to get my stasis web on him to pin him down. He kept a constant 16km between me and him and I needed to think, Keira suggested undocking her Claymore, she had recently finished training for the Skirmish Warfare Mindlink and had just returned from having it surgically implanted. She undocked and formed fleet, warped to a safespot and activated her Interdiction Maneuvers and Rapid Deployment gang links on the commandship. By this point the dogfight had been 20 minutes of non stop action with me continually trying to intercept his orbit to get within web range.

With Keira's mods active the range of my tackling gear was increased as well as my speed, I was just as quick as he was now and I overheated the web for the extra range, once I had got within 16km it went active and it was all over in a flash, the Rifter unable to tank the damage even with a Complex shield booster. The pilot logged instantly to save his pod but was scanned out by a friend, unfortunately I was too high from the kill to think straight and waited too long to pod him and he vanished in space but was satisfied in an epic fight and kill. The Manticore never uncloaked

The loot was scooped and I docked up, desperatley needing a cigarette and a drink, the adrenaline is still flowing through my veins and I just know that once it wears off I will crash into my bunk and sleep a deep contented sleep.

Monday, 28 April 2008

My head spins, last night was a heavy session, Slivowitz will do that to you but I make myself a cup of Earl Grey and try to wake up. The intel channels are silent, in fact there's no-one about but soon the station comes to life and the locals start to wake up. The eerie silence is broken by ships systems onlining and work crews starting the daily grind.

The tea is having an effect and I get about getting some work done, I'm trying a new Rupture setup and I got my deck crew to get everything loaded. I also made sure they loaded the small ECM drones instead of the usual DPS that I carry. This setup would require a new way of thinking and engaging but I was keen to learn.

I went to Eifer to see if anything was about and soon tracked a Stabber to a belt, I warped in and he bugged out, a young pilot but one who wanted to learn, I offered a 1v1 but he was hesistant but wanted to see how he'd fare against an older and more experienced pilot. He offered terms of 10ml to the victor as long as we stopped in structure and I agreed. He warped back in at 100 clicks and I closed the distance, locked and waited for him to be comfortable and engage, he did and it was go, I acticated my guns, knowing full well the outcome of the fight as he had allowed me to get within web range. My shields barely dented when I deactivated my guns with him in half structure. My account flickered as the 10mil was deposited and I let him go, we chatted for a bit and I gave him some advice on fitting as I learnt he had too small calibre guns fitted. He went to highsec to refit and come back and try again, I agreed the terms of that with stopping in structure but no isk was needed thistime.He came back and the result was the same, no kill but two fights with a keen pilot.

A while later reports filtered down of a Maelstrom entering system so I proceeded to try and track it down, there was a friend in a Vagabond in system with another a few jumps out but I decided to engage as soo as I found him, my cruiser against a battleship. I tracked him down to the first belt and engaged, deployed my ECM drones, webbed, scrammed and opened fire. He returned the favour and it was go, my shileds vapourising as his 800mm guns tore into them but I had started to crack his supposed shield tank, the most common for this class. I broke through his shields, much to my suprise, his armour taking significant damage too. All the while my precious armour was being eaten, unable to get speed up due to being webbed and his guns were tearing great chunks off, the structure took even less time and my escape pod jettisoned into space but I was already in contact with my deck crew to prep another Rupture ASAP, I returned as quick as I could to rejoin the fight but was informed as I undocked that the Malstrom had expired at the hands of my friends Vagabond and a Megathron. A fun fight in the end even though I lost a ship.

I later returned to Gusandall when Keira reported a Rifter class frigate in the Angel complex, I quickly boarded a Jaguar and warped in only to find it empty, I scanned the Rifter down to a belt, warped in and found it killing Angel frigates, I engaged in a short, unremarkable fight, snapping up the escape pod for good measure.

Next up was an Ishtar and Hurricane duo running Cosmic Anomolies in Gusandall, a small gang formed and we eventually found them in a 5/10 complex, i had boarded a Sleipnir and made my way there, having the deck crew fit an afterburner was a good idea due to the interference in complexes. Myself and deathstar warped in first and found the first room empty, we made our way to the second gate over 50 clicks away and warped in, the marks 50km off the warpin point and with our entrance they took it as there cue to leave. A missed opportunity and the gang disbanded and docked up.

Hanging around I got news of a Typhoon sitting still on a gate into highsec, another pilot had bumped him out of jump range but couldn;t engage, I boarded Karma and made all haste there, I warped in to see the battleship sitting still and engaged, in doing so criminally flagging myself to the gate sentries, I had broken through the shields of the Typhoon but had to warp out as my shield systems had failed under the sentry fire, my friends were in warp to the mark but my attack had woken the Typhoon pilot up and he approached the gate and jumped out, my haste causing us to lose a kill, c'est la vie. I can't help it others are sooooo slow :P

There was a bit of bait and blob going on in Eifer but no fight materialised and slowly but surely pilots were going off to do other things, I got busy in station having my deck crew set up a few more Ruptures to the new configuration when Keira reported a lone Hurricane moving between belts, I quickly boarded Karma and undocked. Coming out of warp where he was last spotted I saw him bug out and I left in the same direction, only to see him warp back to where I was. I decided to wait as this indicated he was hunting me. Sure enough he warped in right on top of me and I engaed instantly, warp disruptor kicking in as soon as my lock resolved, my 425s spitting out Barrage ammo. His shields melted and I was into the meat of the mighty battlecruiser, My energy neutralisers making sure any tank would be ineffective. It was only as he entered structure I realised I never deployed drones, and cursed myself but it didn't matter as his structure gave in, his escape pod being jettisoned amidst the flash of the explosion. My targetting systems locked it and the warp disruptor mae sure it was going nowhere, I opened comms with the pilot, exchanged pleasntries of "good fight" and then gave my ransom demand, which he accepted and paid, I deactivated the disruptor and he warped out, I docked up shortly afterwards, the loot of a good fight and kill in my hold. To the victor... the spoils.

A decent day, not epic in any way but a good time nonetheless, the last fight making it all worth it. I dock up for the night, Keira going through the loot from the Angel plex that she had been in.I get the deck crew to unload the loot from my ships and dismiss them for the night, I power down the hangar and go to my corner of the world where a desklamp illuminates my bunk and desk. I light a cigarette and slump into my bunk, lying back and watching the shadows from the small light create sharp edges on the ceiling. I exhale a plume of smoke into the light and it drifts slowly across the hangar.

Saturday, 26 April 2008

Wash: "Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction."

Zoe: "We live in a space ship, dear."

Strange evening for me, I was hanging out in station when reports filtered down that there was a Drake outside criminally flagged. A friend undocked in his Drake and was engaged, I boarded my Sleipnir and undocked, the fight very short and unremarkable, sentries doing the bulk of the damage to the unfortunate pilot. He was very verbose about the fact we were outdamaged by sentries but then he died to them with our help so his smack was weak.

Another Drake caught our attention in a system next door and a small gang was assembled to engage but he kept moving and our prober couldn't get a good position. While waiting on the gate to the system a Brutix and Curse had warped to the gate, Curse jumping through but Brutix engaged me. No biggie I thought, but a Rapier uncloaked and webbed me, I was going nowhere, my gangmates unsure of what was going on. My Hurricane went down in flames and I warped my escape pod out. I got on comms with my hangar crew and told them to prep another Hurricane ASAP, I was going back in and this time my gang mates had entered the fray. A quick dock and I was back and this time someone was going down, the Brutix bearing the wrath of my autocannons. With the tide turning the Rapier and Curse disengaged, a wise choice but a very good fight and respect to them.

I'm also training some interesting skills at the moment, just recently finished tech 2 small lasers and busy skilling up for tech 2 small blasters, going to add the Gallente Tech 2 Frigates to my repertoire of Minmatar, Caldari and Amarr small ships. Just a detour from my long skills that have been boring me senseless, looking forward to having some fun getting used to new and different styles of fighting.

Thursday, 24 April 2008

Keira did some sightseeing tonight and travelled a fair distance encompassing Metropolis and The Forge, she transmitted these images to me. She visited a total of 32 sites this evening and some of them were just breathtaking, Lord Bastion's Ruins and the Hyperbole Nexus being amongst the best visited thus far.

Two years... A long time in a universe as harsh as New Eden... Two years

Last night I celebrated my second cloningday, two years since I fell out of the cloning vat and took my first steps into the chaos that is EVE

I remember well my first Rifter, purchased with the help of the residents of Arsclan. I remember well losing it to Worlds Collide. I would eventually master that mission and in doing so it helped me buy my first Rupture. The very same Rupture I spent hours ratting in Abudban, Alakgur and surrounding lowsec space. It was lost in my first PvP encounter to DruzidelCastro's Deimos. However I had it insured and the payout helped me buy another Rupture and I was soon back to ratting, getting my first faction drop of a Dramiel BPC which sold for a mammoth 100million ISK, a fortune which would set me up nicely and soon I was joining The Black Sword on expeditions into lowsec with my trusty Rifter

Shortly after I left the good people of Ex Coelis and joined up with friends in Ars Caelestis (now Ars ex Discordia) and its journey with Huzzah Federation, Ascendant Frontier, Imperium, Curse Alliance and GoonswarmMy combat experience growing from fighting against the best, Band of Brothers, Against All Authorities, Omniscient Order, Lotka Voltera, Beyond Divinity and the Privateers, Firmus Ixion, Sniggerdly, Burn Eden and the Establishment.

Forged in fire but wanting to learn more and no better place to go to school than lowsec and the world of Piracy

Lowsec PvP is unlike anything I had experienced before. You have to be sharper, more alert and know exactly what your ship and that of your opponent is capable of. There's no FC telling you what to do, who to shoot and when to disengage. No one to blame if you screw up, no one to fall back on should things be going south.

There's only you.

Life as a solo Pirate is difficult to say the least but I have made friends along the way, often by gunpoint, like flashfresh, an exceptional pilot, Pirate and gentleman. He is a massive inspiration to me and has recently left the solo life and joined the Black Flag, a great bunch of young pilots forging a name for themselves with potency in combat that belies their age.Karlemagne and the Black Fleet, Pirates whom I flew with on occasion during my first months in the area. No idea what happened to them but Karl has recently returned to Gusandall and I look forward to flying with him again.Mean Corp, a fearsome collection of Pirates with legendary smack, my Red/Neutral status with them goes back a long time but I have become good friends with a few of their pilots like Deathstar and WaycharlesRedbad and the Tempered Steel Legion crew, Realzonk and the guys from Hellaquin, Lucius Cain who has just returned to the area and the residents of Independence, you guys have all made the journey worth it even though at times we have shot each other.

I've also made a hell of a lot of enemies with a red list to rival most nullsec alliances. Pirates and anti-Pirates alike, these guys make lowsec very interesting.

Boom shalak lak Boom

I celebrated last night by undocking in my favourite ship, a Rifter, the epitome of Minmatar ruthlesness. I decided to go do some belt hunting in Eifer, my spiritual home, a system I know backwards.

It was dead quiet, not a soul and a reminder that Piracy requires patience to be succesful and is not always non stop PvP as you'd imagine. My thoughts were snapped back to the here and now as someone had entered Eifer and my scanner was quick to confirm a Rifter target near Planet IV's cluster of asteroid belts. I warped to the planet and quickly narrowed him down to belt 3 and engaged my warp drive, my heartbeat increasing with every passing second, the thrill of the hunt pumping adrenaline through my system. My scanner showed my mark still ahead of me and I burst out of warp with my tackling systems primed and proceded to lock the rifter who was 6 clicks off my starboard. Lock resolved and the Warp Disruptor and Stasis Web kicked in trapping the Rifter. I settled into an easy orbit, taking my time, savouring every moment. I activate my guns one at a time, the rocket launcher being activated last. Soon they are tearing holes in the armour and hull of the motionless Rifter, he had locked and engaged me but it was far too late and he exploded in a blinding flash, my targeting systems already locking the escape pod, my Warp Disruptor kicking in as it resolved and I send the pilot home, care of the Clone Vat Express. The corpse making a nice trophy to be added to "The Morgue"I loot the wreck and warp out to a safe spot in system to wait out my Global Criminal Countdown and Eifer once again goes silent. There's the odd passerby but none staying long enough to play.

I head back to Gusandall and dock up, that single hunt, that single kill enough to satiate my bloodlust.

The Dark Side... We have Pie...

I just want to welcome some old freinds and ex corpmates to the wonderful world of Piracy. Jon, Lars and Xynie have recently left 0.0 and started down the path to the Dark Side in different corps and I wish them every success. I hope you guys have as good a time as I am and if you're ever in the area holler in NovaKane and we'll go cause some Chaos.

Monday, 21 April 2008

I walked into the hangar to see the comms flashing, something about a Thanatos in Eifer. My first thought was "What kind of idiot cynos into a stationless system?"

Kane Rizzel > what's going down?

My answer was a fleet invite and a request to bring DPS to the Eifer gate so I boarded "Karma™" and made my way there. I was paying attention to fleet comms and waiting for the cue to jump in. It came as a covops had probed the mark out and the order to engage was given. Upon bursting out of warp I locked the Gallente carrier and deployed my drones, I had my 425s loaded with EMP rounds to break through the massive shields, the rest of the small gang had landed and all hell broke loose. The carrier had locked me and set his fighters on me, only 5 deployed but I was used to this and used the same old tactic of stringing the fighters out so they didn't damage me, by the time I had gotten 120clicks away the carrier pilot had cottoned on and recalled the fighters so I closed in once again, relocked, loaded Barrage and opened up as he was in armor.

The armor melted and it was curious as I saw no repping, soon he hit structure and the question of ransom was asked with the majority of the eight man gang wanting the kill. By the time we all agreed he had exploded as his structure melted, his escape pod jettisoned into space and warping out as soon as he did. The wreck was looted and to our suprise the fitting was exceptionally poor.

Sunday, 20 April 2008

You may be asking yourself "Kane, double you tea eff mate? What's with the tourist gig?" Well, it's mainly because I can, not being tied down by a corp or alliance I am able to do whatever I want, recently I've been bored and decided that seeing the sights of the Universe would be a challenge. Keira thinks I've gone insane and she may be right but I'm seeing things which are truly inspiring.

This evening started with a trip of epic proportions, over 280 jumps in total in "Discworld Tours™" my Crow class interceptor. It almost ended as quickly as it had started as I encountered a gate camp with an interdictor bubble in 8YC-AN, Great Wildlands. My overview resolved and there was quite a force, included was a Rapier only 22km from me, I made the decision to break cloak and aligned to a planet, I hit the MWD and tried to burn out of the bubble, the camp targeted me and I found myself being warp scrambled and webbed but my momentum carried me out of the bubble and warp scram range and I was able to warp out with 50% of my structure remaining. My ship was on fire and I had me a narrow escape. Just the kind of thing to get the blood pumping.

I docked in E02 and repaired as all that red on my HUD wouldn't help me if I encountered a more competent camp. I did however encounter another two camps, roaming blobs to be more precise and I blew through there attempts to catch me with ease. I eventually made it to AZN and the Ars Orbiting HQ, home of my old corp Ars ex Discordia and I said hi to some old friends, the last time I was there was during the ASCN/BoB war and the place has a lot of memories for me. A few minutes later I was in C9N and I warped to Steve's wreck, the first Titan class ship to be destroyed in EvE's universe, it was piloted by CYVOK, the alliance leader of ASCN.I was fortunate enough to be involved in the first ever Titan jump bridge when we went to help some allies fend off a POS assault so seeing Steve's wreck brought back a lot of memories.

With that done I set my destination for 46DP, the site of a memorial set up by the pilots of Goonswarm to commemorate their Titan kill of Shrike's Avatar class Titan, Darwin's Contraption, unfortunately the Giant Secure Containers are being removed in an attempt to clear up space junk so it's no longer complete. It was getting late so I set destination for home and it was a rather uneventful trip, no camps, no targets, nothing. I stopped in at one or two other sights on the way back and eventually got home, tired but invigorated.

Fort Kumar

The Ars Orbiting HQ, home to my old corp and a tribute to the Ars Technica forums

Steve's wreck in C9N

It's frickin huge

46DP Shrike Titan Memorial, now incomplete as the cans are being removed

Some sights more awe inspiring than others but all worth it. Tomorrow brings another day and with it I may do some hunting, the urge to kill something is rising and I think tourism may be put on hold for a bit but for now I'm going to just chill with the hum of the ships systems in the hangar lulling me to sleep.

I also need the help of the pod pilots of EvE, I'm trying to find the locations of the following sites:

Made myself a new forum sig, the background image is not my work, I thank Google Images.

I should be on later this evening for some adventure, apologies that updates have been few and far between but work is hectic as ever and I rarely get chance to breathe let alone liberate assets and corpses.

If anyone feels like chatting I hang out in "Independence" and "NovaKane" ingame channels

Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Keira's been doing some highsec work and after a rather long freighter run for supplies and ships decided to board a Dramiel and go do some sightseeing. The trip wasn't too long and she soon reached her destination and visited The Glass Edge and the Reactor Factory.

The Glass Edge, a truly beautiful sight.

A Dramiel Faction Frigate in The Glass Edge

Another shot of The Glass Edge

The Reactor Factory, an abandoned Minmatar outpost

Keira showing off the Dramiel, one hell of a sexy ship

Reactor Factory and Dramiel

She returned to her highsec HQ and sent me these pictures, truly beautiful.If anyone knows of any other sights, please let me know, I'm very keen to see more.

I'm sitting in dock, the lights all out except for a candle on my desk, shadows dance against the hangar walls, I hate when the Station systems are being updated, why do they always schedule these things for when I have the most time to hunt?

Everything is quiet, the numerous ships in my hangar all powered down. It's times like these when the cold reality of space really kicks in.

Yesterday saw very little action, got an unfortunate Thorax pilot on a stargate out of Gusandall as we were trying to set something up but the mark was for the most part unwilling so I docked up.It was only much later that a fellow Pirate reported some action in Sotrenzur, two Ravens on scan, most likely in a mission. Keira was already in space and headed over to work her magic. She had dropped a Spook 20 AU probe, one which has great range but low strength so chances of getting reliable and accurate hits is slim but Keira's persistance and skills seem to pay off on a regular basis. Within four passes of the probe she had a hit and warped to it. She reported a deadspace gate and the Raven still on scan so I boarded "Karma" and undocked, the Pirate who reported the mark had docked up to change to a Raven battleship. We agreed to meet at the gate into the system and co-ordinate our attack.

Once both in position we agreed to engage and we jumped into system, as our systems resolved we set a warp to Keira's position, that girl had setup a perfect warpin and I burst out of warp on top of the gate, my Raven accomplice joining me seconds later, we activated the gate at the same time and were launched into warp towards the deadspace. It looked like the gods of EvE were against us, I came out of warp 68km from the mark and thought at this time the gig was up, I made all haste to close the distance and only then realised I had a MWD fitted and it wouldn't activate due to the deadspace interference, slowboating the distance would be a pain but it seemed our mark was asleep in his pod as he had not made a move to warp out or target us.I was slowly closing to within warp disruption range and I had set the module to overload to get that extra bit of range and once within that range I started my lock, it resolved and the disruptor kicked in, the Raven was trapped. My accomplices battleship was still a long way off so I started my attack and launched my drones, closed to within range of my guns and opened up, our mark seemlesly oblivious to my presence but then he locked me and my accomplice and set his drones and missiles on the Raven and not me.Our marks shields were taking a beating and were giving in, my accomplice finally getting to within range of his torpedoes and soon the mighty Raven succumbed in a flash of light. The system started to fill up and intel confirmed it was our marks friends, hopefully coming to save him but it was too late, we grabbed the loot and got out of dodge just as Keira reported another Raven, a Megathron and Maller warp in to the deadspace gate. We decided to bug out as more of the smouldering Ravens corpmates jumped into system.

We docked up in Gusandall and shared the spoils, being a Pirate is not only about the fights but also about ISK, that which makes the universe go round.

It was a good kill and props to CPT NESSAJA, my accomplice, a good scout and great assist on the kill.

The day brought little else and I generally chatted in various channels and eventually slumped in my bunk. I woke to this black out and am itching to hunt once service is resumed and the station goes active

Thursday, 10 April 2008

I decided that I would grab "Discworld Tours™" a Crow class Interceptor and go on a road trip this evening. If you remember I made a Pilgrimage to New Eden and the EVE gate a month or so ago and I decided I would go to Dead End and see the Black Monolith. This would be a 106 jump round trip but as always I feel seeing the universe is well worth it.

The trip itself was uneventful, blasted past a couple of gatecamps but other than that the route was devoid of any life. These trips are very soothing and are something I highly recommend to others as the universe is truly huge and something we are all too quick to forget as we fight our wars and scrounge for our ISK.

Now to the real reason for this report, the pictures:

The Black Monolith at Dead End

"Oh my god.... it's full of stars"

I popped into New Eden to see the EVE Gate again.

It truly is beautiful.

On the way back I called in at The Myridian Strip

and snapped a pic of a corpse by an unusual stargate complex

I'm really keen to explore some of EVE's other sights and will do so in future but for now I'm kinda tired after such a long trip so I think I'm going to hit the sack.

I'll leave you with a shot of "Crop Duster™" the last thing plex runners in Gusandall see before they take the Clone Vat Express

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

I unveiled a new ship today, a Dramiel class Angel faction frigate, a truly beautiful piece of design but somewhat lacking in the firepower department with a split 3 missile/2 autocannon setup with bonuses just to the guns. It flies more like a Crow Interceptor than a normal frigate and needs to utilise its speed. I used it againts a Thrasher that was peacefully accosting some Angel frigates in an asteroid belt. The ship performed well but is lacking IMO, as beautiful as it is, it just doesn't do it for me. The thrasher was dispatched and the pilots corpse added to "The Morgue" I will of course use it again, no use letting it gather dust in the hangar.

I then boarded something a bit more familiar, a Jaguar assault frigate named "Crop Duster™", specifically setup for hunting in my local Angel complex. Keira had spotted a Vengeance assault frigate in system and I decided to use the plex as the baiting ground, I warped there and waited and was not disappointed as the Vengeance scanned me down and warped in. The fight kicked off around the ancient acceleration gate and due to spacial anomolies it means that MWDs are useless, this of course suited me as I have an afterburner fitted and I would use this to my advantage. The Venageance's tech 2 rockets were hitting me but my shields were holding, my guns and rockets loaded with ammo with high thermal damage were playing havoc with the armour of the Ammar frigate, thermal damage being a big weakness for them and the Vengeance crumbled in a shiny explosion, the blinding flash confusing the pilot long enough for me to lock on and scramble the pod, my guns splitting it like a pinata.

ANother Rifter was added to my tally for the day before reports of a ISK farmer Raven warping to Gusandall gate in Ingunn came over intel channels, I rapidly boarded "Guards Guards" a Broadsword heavy interdiction cruiser, a solid ship with the ability to lock down any ship no matter how many warp core stabilisers it has fitted, this ability would be key as I waited on the other side of the gate. The Raven uncloaked 26km from me, my tackling systems primed and hot, lock resolving and in an instant the Raven was going nowhere, I closed the distance an applied a Stasis Webifier to stop him trying to make his way back to the gate, my guns spitting out EMP shells at a rapid rate, the shields of the mighty Caldari Battleship starting to break, I was joined by some accomplices and the Raven flashed into nothingness, the escape pod rapidly being locked down and destroyed.

I returned to my Jaguar and scanned out two Rifters in the direction of the plex, I warped in to find one on the gate, it was locked and destroyed with no fuss, the corpse joining "The Morgue"I hit the scanner in the direction of the deadspace and saw the other Rifter still in the plex, as I activated the gate another Rifter warped in, a speedbump. I deactivated my warp and downed the Rifter, quickly scanning in the direction of the deadspace to see if the second was still there, it was and I once again activated the gate, I burst out of warp to see the Rifter over 60km away and I started to close the distance but the Rifter decided to get out of dodge, leaving me with only the two kills.

Later on the intel channels were buzzing again as two battlecruisers were spotted in Eifer, a gang was hastily formed and we headed to the gate to the system whilst our prober scanned them out, whilst waiting a Dominix Battleship jumped into system and was greeted by 3 very tetchy pilots, the combined firepower of two Hurricanes and an Astarte vapourising the Gallente Battleship. In this time our prober had some technical issues and Keira made her way to Eifer, she had dropped a probe and got a hit on her first scan, she made her way to the safspot to set up a warpin for us, however both battlecruisers were aligned at speed, Keira made the decision to sacrifice her Cheetah Covert Ops frigate to make the intial tackle until our Recon could get in for the prime tackle. She uncloaked and locked the Hurricane, our primary target and started the tackle, the Hurricane instantly returned the lock and the Cheetah was ripped to shreds but allowed anough time for the rest of the gang to get in and lay down points. By the time I burst out of warp she had managed to get her escape pod out. The fight however was only just starting, the Ferox had warped out and the Hurricane was using its MWD to try and get out of warp disruption range. I started to give chase as did the rest of the gang, the fight spanned 370km from initial tackle to the Hurricane exploding and to top it all off the Ferox came back only to be locked and popped in short order. Loot was scooped and the gang returned to Gus to share the spoils. I'd like to thank the guys who donated loot and mods to get Keira back into a Cheetah as soon as possible, much appreciated.

A little later on, once again targets had appeared in Eifer, two Drake class battlecruisers, myself and deathstarbeing the most eager and getting to the gate to Eifer first. The gang formed in drips and drabs as blood in the water attracts the predators and there's no shortage of them. Tim Burton was our prober on this one and did a stellar job as we were struggling to track the two marks down. He had setup a perfect warpin and the signal was given to warp in and engage, tackle was to be shared between the two targets to make sure none made it out alive. Both Drakes exploded in short order, the legendary tanks of these Caldari battlecruisers not standing up to the combined firepower of an Astarte, Brutix, dual Hurricanes, Manticore, Pilgrim and after looking at the killmails it looks like they were weapons testing against each other, not the smartest thing to do in Pirate infested space.

On my way home I encountered a Stilleto on the gate in Gusandall, I engaged the Goonfleet pilot and he popped almost instantly under the fire from my mighty 425mm autocannons.

I docked up for the night, a long days hunting and some great kills, I make myself a cup of Earl Grey, light a cigarette and reflect on a good day, 18kills including 6 pods to the one loss of Keira but she's still giggling and has a new Cheetah. Some good loot and good memories.

Monday, 7 April 2008

I walked into the hangar to see the vidphone flashing "targets in Eifer, bring DPS" so I boarded Karma™ and primed her systems, she hadn't been used in a while as I've been doing a lot of solo work in Frigates and Cruisers.I joined the hastily assembled gang as they were preparing to send a baitship in to get the hostiles to engage, I'm not a big fan of this tactic but it's one that has proven results. Blobs don't like to get outblobbed.

Very balanced and a good turnout for such short notice. As pirates we have our differences but anti pirates and blobs are a common problem for us. Five different corps in one gang and sometimes with this comes the problem of communication, this time we had very little issue.

Our bait went in with the Falcon cloaked above him, he was very shortly engaged by the Vagabond which was joined by his friends and the order to jump in was given, once in system all haste was made to warp to him and engage, targets being called as we were in hyperspace.Burtsing out of warp my systems resolved to show our Maelstrom swarmed by drones, our Falcon going to work on the bulk of their DPS, removing their ability to lock.I locked onto the first 4 targets and our gang went to work, knocking off the targets one by one. Hurricane, Hurricane, Myrmidon, Megathron, Phobos and Harbinger, very soon all that was left were 6 wrecks and a corpse as we podded the Phobos pilot, his corpse making a nice addition to "The Morgue", swarms of drones abbandoned in space by the downed pilots littered the asteroid belt, we took a look around to see where we stood with regards to losses and found we were all intact, not a single loss. A quick survey of the wrecks showed we had killed everything but the Vagabond, we were however left on a field of victory and looting and scooping of drones commenced

I don't often run in gangs lately as I lost a lot of my solo edge but this felt damn good, bringing the pain in such a manner is invigorating even though our communication is always lacking, however, the pirates of the Evannater constelation are exceptional in their efficiency and ruthlesness, this allows even ad hoc gangs to cause havoc.

Props to Ace Secunda for some brilliant gang bonus, Redbad playing bait to perfection, Serenetor for keeping Redbad alive with some great repping, Prediction Pain for some great Raspberry Jams and the rest of the guys for a good gang and fight.

I finished the night with a quick solo kill of a Thrasher in my favourite Plex.I docked up, a few restless nights with little sleep has me feeling rather drained, I hope I can get some more hunting done this week

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